


The Search

by Clea2011



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1970s, Alternate Universe - Historical, M/M, Research
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-08 08:49:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4298379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clea2011/pseuds/Clea2011
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur manages to find his past life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Search

**Author's Note:**

> Written for camelot_drabble prompt 167 - 'search', and also fills the 'historical' square of my merlin_writers trope bingo

Arthur was impressed with modern technology. Everything was so much easier to find now. Microfiche, for example, had been an amazing invention. All the birth and death records had been transferred over, and the records office was promoting it, letting people come in and search. So much easier than just rows and rows of files.

Arthur had found an Arthur Pendragon born in 1872, died 1952, and another one had died in 1864. He was still trying to find the birth records for that one. It was fascinating.

“Sometimes all those lives just seem like a dream,” he told Merlin a little wistfully. “But there’s all these records. They were really me?”

“Those are just two of you,” Merlin confirmed. “You can never stay away from me for long.”

At home, Merlin had a collection of photographs dating back well into the 19th century that had prompted this particular search. And older than the photographs were his collection of paintings. There was a particularly ridiculous one where Arthur was wearing a doublet and hose, with a huge ruff around his neck. Merlin liked to display that one in the hallway of their home whenever possible, mainly because it was so embarrassing. Arthur told visitors that it was a distant ancestor, then winced when they commented on how very much like Arthur he was.

Strangely, no equally foolish-looking picture of Merlin seemed to have survived down the centuries.

Arthur carried on searching through the records, pulling out another fiche and sliding it into the viewer.

“That one’s upside down,” Merlin pointed out helpfully.

It was. Still, it was so clever, all those miniaturised images. Who would have thought, centuries before as he’d laboured over copying out a manuscript, that one day there would be something like this? Technology was moving so fast. Only yesterday Merlin had bought one of those new Betamax video recorders. There was talk of a fourth channel on the TV coming in a couple of years now (and how fantastic was TV?), and they were going to be able to record it all too. Amazing.

Arthur wondered what other wonders he would see before this particular lifetime was over.

 


End file.
